Herbalism, art and nature from the hills of Kentucky

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Enchanting Wild Columbine

Gorgeous Aquilegia canadensis, or Wild Columbine, nods in the breeze and rings like bells (if you have synesthesia) alongside the road to our house.

It has an otherworldly feel to it.

Though I had heard varying reports of toxicity, and I knew this plant is classified in the often-toxic Buttercup family, i once ate several flowers in attempt to grok this mysterious beauty.

I don’t recommend this. The taste was sweet, but I my heart sped up and I felt rather anxious, regretting what I had done. Though whether that was from the cyanogenic glycosides that Wikipedia tells me it contains, or was psychosomatic, I do not know. Either way, I didn’t gain any extra insights into Columbine, but did gain an appreciation of how very easy it would be to accidentally poison myself in my endless curiosity about the plant-beings. Which is a reasonably good lesson in itself, yes.